


i'd be lying if i told you (losing you is something i can handle)

by tsunwalker



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Basically touching your soulmate gives you energy but not getting a touch in drains you, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Touchstarved Soulmates, bc isle parents and all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 12:44:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19229398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsunwalker/pseuds/tsunwalker
Summary: Soulmates aren't real, just a story the propaganda machine in Auradon gives them to try and make them be nice. At least, that's what Uma believes.





	i'd be lying if i told you (losing you is something i can handle)

Some people can identify the moment they met their soulmate. Uma couldn’t, because it took them years to realize that the comfort she and Harry had together, the way they felt energized after even the briefest of touches was actually a sign that they were soulmates. But, then again, no one expected the daughter of Ursula and the son of Hook to even have a soulmate.

(Or a soul, for that matter, but they both got really good at pretending that wasn’t real.)

It wasn’t until they were fourteen that they realized that they actually needed each other to survive on a deeper level. Ursula, on one of her downward swings, banned her daughter from seeing “that Hook boy”, and actually was trying to make sure that Uma listened for once. The sea witch made her way to the shop, watching her child like a hawk to make sure that she didn’t slip away like Uma so often did. Literally throwing any sign of a red jacket out the door to the wharfs even, a good sign that she meant business.

And for a couple days, Uma was fine. Grumbling as she carried trays to tables, snapping a bit more perhaps, but otherwise perfectly healthy. Nothing that couldn’t be explained by her being annoyed at her mother’s sudden close watch. She missed school (there was no way that Ursula was letting her escape for that, which only irritated her more), and she missed her friend. That was all.

Or so she thought.

By the end of the second week, her energy had started flagging. Halfway through the third, it was to the point that even Ursula had to notice. (The lethargy made it hard to dodge tentacles, after all.) “What is with you girl?” she snapped, pulling her daughter up from where she had collapsed onto the floor of the kitchen with a scowl. “You think this is the way to get what you want?”

“No ma,” was Uma’s response, but it lacked the usual bite that came with her words. The shove she tried to give her mother’s tentacle also was without half the power she possessed usually. “I’m fine, just need some more coffee.”

Hands rested on ample hips, an action Uma herself unknowingly imitated when she was annoyed, and Ursula frowned. “This mess only started when I kicked that Hook boy out. Don’t tell me you miss his dumb face that much.”

An attempt at a disdainful huff, and the younger witch crossed her arms in an attempt to look like she was in control. “Ma, he’s basically my sidekick okay? Like Flotsam or Jetsam are for you.” That comparison had worked well in the past, when her mother had tried to kick him out before. And if that failed, well, the mood that had kept him away had already started to fade, and Uma knew how to wait out the mood swings. Soon enough, Ursula would be either confining herself to her couch, or calling her angelfish and letting her go do what she wants again.

Either way worked out for her.

For a moment, Ursula’s eyes were unreadable, staring right at her daughter’s face, before she shook her head. “No, he’s more than that, isn’t he? He’s your soulmate.”

Wait, what?

Pure disbelief flickered in Uma’s gaze, before she mimicked her mother’s previous action with a shake of her own head. “No way, that’s just some story Auradonians try and tell us so we try to be nice to each other. Soulmates aren’t real, everyone knows tha…” Her voice trailed off at the look on the other cecaelia’s face. “... You’re kidding me. Ma, I... I didn’t…” She didn’t know.

The tentacle that had been holding her up released her, brushing against the girl’s face in a way that could go either way, and Uma instinctively stiffened at its touch. “It’s rare, angelfish, but not impossible.” 

Angelfish, the nickname that always signaled Ursula’s mood shifting to one that was far more positive. It should’ve caused her to relax, but the rest of her mother’s words only served to scare her more. After all, Uma knew the stories, she knew that soulmates were doomed to need each other’s touch for survival. It was weakness, and one that she could not afford if she was going to beat Mal anytime soon. “No no no no… This is bad.” If her rival caught wind of this, that would be the end of her position as a credible leader on the Isle.

Sliding down to the floor, Uma shook her head, as if that could change this entire situation. But she wasn’t a child, wasn’t so naïve to think that it could. This was deep magic, beyond anything even her mother was capable here on the Isle of the Lost. But… maybe off of the Isle, beyond that barrier that kept them trapped in this prison…

Perhaps if she could get them both off of this hell, away from everyone who tried to hurt them, she could break the bond and set them both free to do what they wanted.

She needed to plan, but first, first she had to go see him. “I gotta go.” Her best friend (her soulmate, ugh) was probably suffering too, and she was the only person who could make that better. Besides, they were going to need to talk, and for that, Uma needed Harry to be able to focus on what she had to say.  Shoving up off the floor, knowledge of what was going on gave her the energy she needed to get going. Plus, well, she knew her destination was the person whose very touch could heal the draining sensation in the first place. Ignoring her mother’s gaze, she slipped out the back way, focusing only on the effort needed to get to Hook’s Inlet and the Jolly Roger.

This wasn’t the first time she had needed to slip into Harry’s room without being noticed, but it was a whole lot harder when she was still feeling weaker than she would’ve liked. More than once, the witch had been forced to duck behind barrels, holding her breath as pirates stumbled past. There was also a close call with Harry’s sisters, but CJ’s boisterous conversation allowed her to press into a doorway to hide. And if Harriet saw her, the older girl didn’t say a word. (There was a reason Uma liked her, she had a good head on her shoulders.) But eventually, Uma made it to a familiar doorway, slipping inside and closing the door behind her. 

That was the hard part, right?

Turning back, her breath caught at the sight of him, struggling to push himself up from his bed, her name on his lips. He looked like she felt, with only her sheer force of will and stubborn refusal to be bedridden — and her mother’s insistence that she work through anything — keeping her moving. “Stay there, Harry, I can fix this.” At least, if her mother was right in that they were soulmates, this would work. 

And yet, she hesitated, standing where she was, hands still at her side. What if she was wrong, what if this didn’t work? What if she was already too cruel, too villainous to be granted a soulmate by the universe? Did she even want one? The answer to that last question was simple: no, she didn’t. Uma couldn’t afford that kind of weakness, not when she was so desperate for power so that she could beat her faery rival. If this was what had happened, anyone could capture one of them, and they’d be reduced to this. Would she be able to protect him, if they were right?

And if Ursula was wrong… Would she lose the one person who had stood by her side throughout all of Mal’s torment?

There was only one way to find out, and all she had to do was grab his hand.

Swallowing hard, Uma pushed her way off of the door, reaching out for her friend’s hand. Now or never, right? The moment of truth. 

The jolt of energy running through her from the instant her skin touched his blew away any hope (or had it been fear?) that her mother had been wrong. Brown eyes met blue, the look in them confirming that he had felt the same thing she had. There was no turning back now, not from the truth between them. They were soulmates, and there was no potion on the Isle that could change that.

“Shit…” The curse dropped from her lips as Uma fell to her knees beside the bed, still holding onto his hand. “Ma was right… We  _ are _ soulmates...” How could they be the worst villains they could be with such a glaring weakness? What kind of villain had a soulmate anyway? Not the kind that she wanted to be, that was for sure.

But… Biting her lip as she looked at him, the question was if it was worth getting rid of the one person that had always stood by her. And if Uma was honest with herself, she didn’t want to do that. “Harry, we can’t tell anyone about this, you know that right?” 

He nodded, already looking a lot better than he had when she had entered the room, thanks to the prolonged contact. His hand tightened around hers, as if there was a storm raging around them and they were each other’s lifeline. “Aye, no one can know.” 

Gods, had it really been nearly a month since they had actually talked? No more, this could not be allowed to happen again. Hopefully her mother wouldn’t go this far again, no matter how much she personally disliked Harry, but if she did, they would have to get precautions in place. Prepare, just in case. And they would need to figure out a way to touch without anyone looking too closely. Casual touches, if they touched other people too… That could work.

“Ye’r plann’, ain’t ye?” Blinking, the sea witch slowly smiled at Harry’s grin. Yes, yes she was, and he knew her well enough to not have to spell things out. At least if she had to have a soulmate, he was someone that wasn’t a complete waste of her time. “Knew ye wouldn’ let this hold ye back.”

No, it would not. A grin of her own grew, and she rubbed her thumb against his hand, taking in the thrill of the energy contact was feeding her. A magic that survived on the isle, despite everything, that could be powerful indeed. “We’re still gonna be the baddest on this isle, Hook. But first, we’re gonna need to get a ship, and a crew. I’m not going to lose to Mal, even with this.”

Yes, he could be a weakness if anyone else found out about their bond.

But if it stayed secret, he could be a strength, an ace in her sleeve and a sword in her hand.

That sounded quite good to her, really.

**Author's Note:**

> this is what happens when i have feelings for a verse and no one to write it with on my rp blogs.
> 
> also, let's pretend that i haven't had this wip in my google docs folder since the beginning of the year nope.


End file.
